2022 NFL Draft | Who were the Losers on Day 1?

Now is the time to reflect on Day 1.

The first installment featured the winners (read the article below). Today, we break down those losers.

I’m never one to shy away from voicing my opinion in real-time. At the end of the day, the BEAST receipts never lie, and where I believe separates me from everyone else.

2022 NFL Draft | Winners & Losers on Day 1

Often imitated never duplicated, let’s dissect my top-3 Day 1 losers in the second installment of a two-part series:

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1. Minnesota Vikings | Grade: F

Analysis:

Lions trade up for WR Jameson Williams

The Minnesota Vikings lost a favorable draft position in a depleted draft class as they traded down 20 spots in R1 with the Detroit Lions. The parameters of the trade are outlined below:

Lions Get:

• 1st-round pick (No. 12) | WR Jameson Williams

  2nd-round pick (No. 46)

Vikings Get:

• 1st-round pick (No. 32) | SS Lewis Cine

• 2nd-round pick (No. 34) | TRADED with GB for R2 picks (No. 53) & (No. 59)

• 3rd-round pick (No. 66) | ILB Brian Asamoah

The Lions clearly got the better end of this deal. While the Vikings played the ratio game--this is not the draft to do it (see Lewis Cine pick).

Detroit on the other hand, moved up 20 spots in the first-round to get my top-rated WR in this entire draft class while swapping second-round draft picks which yielded 12 spots of draft position.

Ryan Sakamoto @BEASTwriter

No one is talking about WR Jameson Williams because of his torn ACL but make no mistake, he’s arguably the best WR in this year’s draft and No. 1 on my Big Board out of WRs. #BEASTwriter | #RollTide 🐘

They also gave up a third-round pick but who cares in this weak draft class.

I understand the Vikings had needs:

• WR, TE, OG, OC, DE, CB, FS

BUT based on my mock draft and many others--the value to trade back in a depleted draft class for the sake of adding one additional pick in the third-round just doesn’t make sense.

Furthermore, realistically who would be a likely target at No. 32? Based on their needs above and my pre-draft mock, we knew all tier-1 WRs, tier-1 OG, tier-1 OC, and tier-1 CBs would be off the board.

The only remaining position of need worthy of a tier-2 selection is FS. Which ended up being FS Lewis Cine--go figure. We call this a NEEDS based pick. Proof is in the pudding.

The Vikings would’ve been better served to stay pat--select WR Jameson Williams, SS Kyle Hamilton, or even OG Zion Johnson. The value was far better than trading back.

One team came out winners (DET) and the other team came out losers (MIN).